About Us

In June 2012 at the Rio+20 global summit on sustainable development, UN Environment launched the Global Initiative for Resource Efficient Cities (GI-REC) to capitalize on the potential for cities to lead action towards greater resource efficiency.

GI-REC is a cooperation platform offered by UN Environment to connect many different institutions that are using systems approaches (specifically urban metabolism and morphology approaches) towards building low-carbon, resilient, and resource efficient cities.

Using UN Environment’s convening ability, the Initiative distinguishes itself from other city sustainability activities by

• building on existing city networks, and
• having a sustainable consumption and production entry point to assist cities with realizing the economic, social and environmental benefits of resource efficiency.